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The wealth disparity between that group and the rest of the country has steadily widened over the decades, and while the middle-class found its income shrink in the past several years, the wealthiest have actually saw an increase in their income.
So what? It seems only appropriate that, as technology replaces humans and/or makes them less valuable, income would lower. The up-side is that we have access to comforts and leisure that no other generations have known.
How does income disparity justify you being oppressive?
Everyone should pay the same tax rate and everyone should be paying taxes.
It is not right for the successful people to pay the burden for the rest of us.
That is not right and it is not fair.
48% of the lazy asses in this country do not pay ANY taxes at all.
That has to end. They are using the roads, schools, bridges, and other governmental items that the rest of us pay to use and why are they different?
I have yet to ever be given a single job by a poor lazy ass bum.
Every single job I have ever had was from a successful business owner or corporation, never from some loser.
Time to tax everyone at the same rate. No one should go through the year without paying a single dollar into the tax base.
There are wealthy people and businesses not paying any tax, either. Sure, we have a high tax RATE, but that is just one part of the story. The more money you make, the more places are available to bury it.
What a huge tax break people have with their mortgages and children. People who rent without kids often pay MORE taxes than families with a house and kids.
Not fair. Lazy procreators. They should be penalized for having kids because kids require more of our resources. Schools are VERY expensive. A lot of our crimes are committed by young men.
Companies, big ones, have gotten away with paying NO taxes, even while the rate was high -
So, maybe you've got something here.
No more exemptions and everyone must pay the same rate. This will make those that have little pay less than they now are and those with families and assets pay much more.
It's fair, but I don't think you realize the repercussions of what you are saying or someone is propagandizing you. Be careful.
Maybe the libs should stop spending the middle-class' money then.
And who might you think will end up paying for Neocon Bush's illegal war, and for the bailout of the banks, Wall Street firms, GM? The middle class is the greatest source of income for the country. We pay for EVERYTHING. No matter which party is in power.
They both eat our futures with their programs.
The difference is that the Republicans tend toward a fascist system, that will only bail out businesses and the wealthy and care little for the people.
The Dems see the middle class going bankrupt because of health care, etc, and kids who cannot afford an education and see our future going down the drain.
We are turning into a third world nation unless some foward thinking people help to turn us around. We sorely need, and have for a long time, new ideas, new industry, well trained students and employees.
This country has been rewarding the same-old, same-old for way too long. We are being left in the dust by the educational systems and innovation of others.
Why should we be constantly caving to our out-dated and backward thinking auto industry? Why are we not pushing heavily into renewable and non polluting energy sources? Why must we choose something like nuclear, which allow the mega energy industry to continue billing the average home owner, month by month? Every other energy non polluting source should be fully utilized before we even look at nuclear because of the threat of spent fuel.
The old-croney network is so entrenched that it is ruining the country for the rest of us and our children.
The middle class is the greatest source of income for the country. We pay for EVERYTHING.
Maybe you should consider helping elect Congresspeople who fight for right rather than fight for entitlements. If, rather than using their power to gain earmarks, they used their power to balance budgets and keep a healthy economy, the middle-class wouldn't pay for anything.
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They both eat our futures with their programs.
The difference is that the Republicans tend toward a fascist system, that will only bail out businesses and the wealthy and care little for the people.
The Dems see the middle class going bankrupt because of health care, etc, and kids who cannot afford an education and see our future going down the drain.
Before I request sources and challenge assertions, please explain the relevance.
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We are turning into a third world nation...
Please cite your definition of "third world nation" and what similar characteristics the U.S. is developing.
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... unless some foward thinking people help to turn us around. We sorely need, and have for a long time, new ideas, new industry, well trained students and employees.
Please cite your source of expertise on how to turn around a third world country.
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This country has been rewarding the same-old, same-old for way too long. We are being left in the dust by the educational systems and innovation of others.
Then you take issue with public education? Me too.
What "old way" is being rewarded that shouldn't be rewarded?
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Why should we be constantly caving to our out-dated and backward thinking auto industry?
I have no recollection of ever caving to the auto industry. Please explain.
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Why are we not pushing heavily into renewable and non polluting energy sources?
The military is. Beyond that, get off your's and do something that doesn't require the government to oppress others to carry out your agenda. Is that fair?
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Why must we choose something like nuclear, which allow the mega energy industry to continue billing the average home owner, month by month?
Because you haven't changed your life.
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Every other energy non polluting source should be fully utilized before we even look at nuclear because of the threat of spent fuel.
Doesn't 4th generation nuclear consume what was once considered spent fuel?
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The old-croney network is so entrenched that it is ruining the country for the rest of us and our children.
That's politics. A less loaded term might be "old friends" network because that's what it is. When someone like BO breaks through in a time of national frustration, he brings his friends with him. It's standard practice... but you seem to want to make something out of nothing, so you'll be calling BO's crew "old cronies" in a few years.
You can't fight nature.
Let me ask you a question. Why did you load up a post with so many left-field points? It's like "we have to do that; we have to do this", "bad people; good people", "we, we, we."
Taxes on the wealthy are going to increase - the public is going to demand it. The wealth gap is too great for the typical person to ignore any longer.
I'm sure many people - especially the middle-class- feel they are being played for suckers with the tax rates they pay compared to the rich...
I think there should be a new marginal rate of up to 50% on incomes over say 500,000/yr... Or someone in the House was proposing a tax-surcharge on incomes over $1million - I fully support it.
I'd be all for this - we have too much wealth disparity in this country. It's not fair - it is the kind of situation that leads to revolutions.,..
And I'd personally be willing to pay higher taxes if it could spare my children from having to pay back our tremendous national debt and to keep them from having to bear all the burden of trying to keep Social Security and Medicaire solvent..
Kant, there are many things that are not explicitly mentioned in the U.S. Constitution. It's merely a testament to the limitations, "living document" or not. However, the line "promote the general welfare" could reasonably be interpreted to include community grants, as it currently is.
The Constitution isn't a living document, it's an amendable document per Article V. Until such time that it is amended, it is rather clear in what it states.
General welfare, as twisted as it has become under SCOTUS rulings as of the 1930s, is still that... general welfare and not specific welfare. Even using Hamilton's broader interpretation of general welfare, which wasn't shared among many of the founders, we are still left with general versus specific as even Hamilton admitted. Community grants are specific, not general.
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Federal money is also spent on arts, sciences, space exploration, and many other items not explicitly mentioned in it; should federal money not go to those areas as well?
Unless they are required for defense or,
"To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;"
Then no... federal money should not be spent on such programs.
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Here, I was talking about percentage of individual income, not percentage of the income tax pie. Of course the wealthiest 1% pay a large chunk of income taxes, as that group earns more pretax income than the bottom 90% of households combined! (Info I gleaned from the article below)
The wealth disparity between that group and the rest of the country has steadily widened over the decades, and while the middle-class found its income shrink in the past several years, the wealthiest have actually saw an increase in their income.
This BusinessWeek article (hardly a socialist rag), although somewhat outdated, explains the phenomenon of the Bush tax cuts quite well:
How Bush Widened The Wealth Gap (http://www.businessweek.com/@@*7OQP4YQG8gsPxgA/magazine/content/04_44/b3906038_mz007.htm - broken link)
I paid about 38% of my total income on taxes last year, and I live in a state with no income taxes. That's not counting random taxes like phone taxes, power taxes, gas taxes, etc. I'd venture to guess that it's a higher percentage than someone who gets more in a refund than they paid in income taxes due to the EIC.
If you're concerned about the poor, ignore taxes for a while. Stop spending so much and lower inflation. It's the real killer tax on the poor that no one is talking about.
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